


like we know each other

by ohsun



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Meet the Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27962600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohsun/pseuds/ohsun
Summary: Mark just needs someone to take home for the holidays to prove to his parents that he’s not completely undateable. Enter Yukhei, professional fake boyfriend (and the reason why Mark can’t sleep at night).
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 20
Kudos: 218





	like we know each other

**Author's Note:**

> title from: touchin' - kang daniel
> 
> warnings: alcohol, strong language

“I am not _desperate,_ ” Mark bites out, “I just need someone to come home with me to prove to my parents that I am not completely undateable – I’ll even _pay_ them,” Mark complains, whining defeatedly with his head in his hands.

“Sounds pretty desperate to me,” Donghyuck pipes up. Mark grimaces at him from across the table. 

“I know a guy,” Ten says suddenly, a little _too_ convenient. 

The notion that Ten of all people knows a guy should probably be alarming but it does catch Mark’s attention. Ten takes advantage of this, smiling gleefully as Mark looks up at him. Ten is exactly the kind of person that _would_ exploit Mark’s desperation and the look in his eyes says enough.

“Who?” He says, voice laced with interest suddenly.

(He’s not desperate, he is just running out of options and Christmas is getting closer and there will not be another Christmas dinner of his aunties trying to set him up with their daughters’ friends.)

“Just a guy,” Ten says as if testing the waters. “He helped Dejun out to get back at his ex-”

“What’s his name?” Mark interrupts.

“Yukhei,” Ten says. “He’s in my business class.”

And Mark _knows_ Yukhei as a friend of a friend. Yukhei comes over to Ten’s place sometimes to study (and they mostly end up playing video games) and he’s a nice guy. He’s tall and handsome, just Mark’s type and maybe taking someone like Yukhei home for Christmas would be both convincing and a dream come true. 

Mark cannot help but conclude that this is a brilliant idea, which seems strange given Ten is the one bringing it to the table. 

“Do you really think he would help me?” Mark asks, gnawing on his bottom lip as he mulls the thought over in his head. He’d suggested it out of mindless frustration, but the idea was becoming more and more appealing. “I mean, it’s over Christmas, don’t you think he’d spend it with his family?”

“Ah, he’s an exchange student, and he won’t be going home for Christmas,” Ten explains and Mark cannot believe how the stars seem to be aligning to make this happen.

“Isn’t it sad that Mark needs someone to pretend to be their boyfriend?” Donghyuck speaks up from where he’s buried in his notebook.

“Shut up Donghyuck,” Ten and Mark retort in unison, before returning back to their own conversation.

So he asks Yukhei, and surprisingly it is not the most awkward conversation he’s ever had in his life, because Yukhei is so kind, friendly, outgoing and the most _chill_ person Mark has ever had the pleasure of meeting – nothing could ever be awkward with hi,.

The conversation goes like this: Mark is at a party two days later (courtesy of Ten inviting Donghyuck, because Donghyuck’s older brother would be there and Donghyuck bringing Mark to avoid being a third wheel to _that_ ) and not so accidentally runs into Yukhei. He’d noticed Yukhei the moment he arrived (it’s kind of hard not to, being one of the tallest people in the room) and before he knew it he was searching for some fresh air and standing on the very same balcony as Yukhei. 

“Hi,” Yukhei says, standing by the railing of the balcony. The streetlight shines down on his light brown hair, catching in his eyes as they meet Mark’s. “Looking for some air?” Yukhei asks.

“Yes,” Mark stutters out, nodding to himself. “Donghyuck is very drunk somewhere with Ten, so I thought I’d get some fresh air,” Yukhei chuckles at that, running a hand through his tousled hair.

And _no_ it’s not the alcohol summoning the next words that fall out of Mark’s mouth but he _will_ blame it on that for good measure. He just says it, like he's asking for the time of day.

“Can I ask you for a favour?” Leave it up to Mark to ask a friend of a friend for favours at a party. Yukhei is probably expecting something trivial like if he can keep an eye on Donghyuck (a task Mark frequently delegates to strangers at parties), not expecting Mark to say “I need someone to pretend to be my boyfriend for my family over Christmas.”

Yukhei’s eyes widen. Mark figures he’s probably heard a lot of weird things but that this might take the cake, if the other’s expression is anything to go by.

“Um…” Yukhei starts, opening his mouth to say something and then closing it again.

“It’s just, my parents they’re always asking when I’ll bring home a nice girl or boy and I keep telling them that I’m not really looking for anyone - which I’m not, so my aunts keep setting me up with their friend’s daughters because they think I’m lonely, _which I’m not_ \- I think I might actually drown myself in the pond if I have to take another girl out on a hometown park date and apologise for my aunts leading them on.”

A smile breaks out on Yukhei’s face before he starts laughing, all bright eyed and toothy, and Mark is a little blinded by it.

“So you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?” Yukhei suggests and god _yes_ that’s exactly what Mark wants, but he doesn’t want to seem desperate (this time).

“Kind of?” He says, shrugging with an awkward hand gesture. “Ten said you helped Dejun when he wanted to get back at his ex, so he suggested I should ask you.”

“Ah yes,” Yukhei muses, nodding to himself. “I’m quite a professional pretend boyfriend indeed.”

And Mark realises then that he had probably underestimated the amount of alcohol the taller had consumed, if the _giggle_ he lets out is anything to go by. So maybe asking Yukhei in this situation wasn’t fair. Maybe Donghyuck was right (there’s a first time for everything), this idea is ridiculous. “You know what, nevermind-”

“Sure,” Yukhei says instead, completely disregarding any offer Mark gave him at getting out of this. “I don’t really have plans for Christmas anyways, my parents don’t celebrate Christmas much and I’m flying home for Chinese New Year already, I figured I could spend Christmas break here.”

“Are you sure?” Mark asks. Yukhei had literally just agreed to the ridiculous idea of being his pretend boyfriend to take home for Christmas. It doesn’t hurt to double-check.

“Yeah, I’d be happy to help you out.”

“Cool,” Mark says, because he’s the kind of guy that says _cool_ after he’s just scored a pretend boyfriend to take home for Christmas. He is mortified, but Yukhei is drunk, so sober Yukhei might not remember how awkward Mark is, and _maybe_ sober Yukhei won’t regret saying yes to this.

🎄

Perhaps Yukhei has a very selective memory, or he is some kind of saint – because he totally remembers the conversation from last night when Mark texts him the morning after. They talk about the details (when Mark is leaving, which is two days before Christmas, staying just a few days shy of a week to make sure they’re back on campus before new years) and Yukhei is a casual texter, sending funny pictures, cat videos and occasional selfies.

Mark is kind of thankful for that (and does his best at responding, even if he is _not_ a casual texter ( _your texting is more awkward than my dad’s_ , Ten likes to say)) because he feels like he sort of _knows_ Yukhei now, which means it might be easier pretending that they’re dating.

Regardless of how much he feels like he _knows_ Yukhei (he’d even gone through his linkedin page, in case his parents asked where Yukhei went to school), he’s still nervous that he’s actually going to introduce him to his parents. As his boyfriend.

Now Mark’s never had a boyfriend so he’s not sure how to do this (but he figured that even if he _had_ dated before, introducing a pretend-boyfriend to your parents isn’t in the standard repertoire), so he’d opted for the most comfortable method and told his mother over the phone. She asked often enough if there was _someone special_ that he would bring home (to which she probably hadn’t expected an answer that wasn’t ‘no’ anytime soon) and one of those phone calls he simply said _yes_.

“Pardon?” She asked, but from the sudden raise in her voice Mark knew she’d understood exactly what he said. “You _have_?” And that’s how he introduces Yukhei to his mother, sending her a selfie they took together at a party a couple of months ago (which he hadn’t even been aware of that he had until he started looking for photos of his ‘boyfriend’ and found a group photo in which they were standing together and he could easily crop out his friends and add a cute filter). His mother squeals, then coos over how _handsome_ Yukhei is, and wonders out loud how on earth Mark met someone _like that_.

All disbelief aside, his mother does seem to fall for it, especially when he says he’s planning on taking Yukhei home for Christmas, if that’s okay with his mother of course. It’s more than okay, in fact, at the end of that hour-long phone call she tells him to either come with his _boyfriend_ or not come home at all.

So Mark’s mother is excited, Yukhei seems excited (if the constant text messages asking if there’s anything else he needs to pack for the trip are anything to go by) and Mark is dead nervous that morning when they meet up at the station to catch a train back to Mark’s hometown. Yukhei looks fantastic, all tall and handsome like he always is (because Mark figures Yukhei can’t just leave the whole tall and attractive ordeal at home, it’s a package deal) and Mark feels shamefully underdressed showing up in a beanie and a scarf to hide from the world.

The cold bites at their bare skin, Yukhei’s cheeks also tainting a precious red as he waves excitedly at Mark.

“Hey, boyfriend!” He greets cheerfully when Mark approaches him on the platform and Mark doesn’t have much (any) dating experience but he’s pretty sure partners don’t call each other _boyfriend_ all the time, yet he doesn’t hate it either. “I got us coffee, yours with sugar, right?”

Mark’s not sure why Lucas remembers his coffee order but he’s grateful for the warm beverage that soothes his cold hands. “Thank you,” Mark says, managing a small smile that peaks above the scarf wrapped around his neck.

It’s only a two hour train journey but for Mark it means two uninterrupted hours of Yukhei’s attention on him which turns out to be more difficult than he’d expected. They’re sitting next to each other in a rather quiet coupe, so Yukhei leans over to speak lowly into his ear.

“So,” he starts and Mark jumps slightly, turning his head to look at the other. “We should probably have a story of like, how we met.”

“Can’t we just say that we met through mutual friends?” Mark proposes. There are enough made up things he has to remember for the coming few days (like treating Yukhei like his boyfriend), they might as well stick to the truth of how they met.

“That’s not very romantic,” Yukhei pipes up, and Mark chuckles.

“We’re pretending to be dating, it’s not supposed to be romantic, Yukhei,” He points out. “But if you want to tell them you saved me from a burning building and we fell in love like that, you’re going to have to at least make up a story of _how_.”

Yukhei laughs at this, hitting Mark’s thigh in laughter. For a split second Mark realises how large Yukhei’s hands are compared to Mark’s thighs. It should be obvious given their height difference but Mark had never noticed until now – Yukhei’s one hand can probably envelop his whole thigh, which is a problem because now Mark kind of wants him to.

“Okay, maybe I’m not a firefighter that saved you out of a burning building,” Yukhei decides. “But how long have we been dating? How serious is it? What do we call each other? What is your dating history? What kind of cereal do you like? – I _need_ to know these things, or they’ll see right through us.”

Mark snorts, shaking his head. 

“Let’s just say we’ve been seeing each other for a couple months, so it’s fairly serious,” he decides, not wanting to overcomplicate it. A couple of months seems like a good amount of time to date before introducing them to your parents (like Mark would know).

“So it’s serious then?” Yukhei asks to clarify and Mark loves his enthusiasm, how serious he seems to be about making this work. “Like we’ve said the _I love you’s_ and all that?”

“Um,” Mark says, a shiver going down his spine for reasons unknown. “Well that’s…” he starts, but he doesn’t know when people normally do that in relationships, but he also does not want Yukhei to know that he does not know that. 

Fake dating is harder than they make it seem. “Yeah, sure.”

“So what do I call you then?” Yukhei goes on, and Mark honestly doesn’t _know_ because he’s never called someone a pet name (except for calling Donghyuck an idiot) and the word he tries out in his head all seem ridiculous.

“I mean we don’t really have to do that-” Mark starts but Yukhei seems very insistent.

“Can I just call you babe then?”

Preferably not, Mark thinks, because his heart just skipped a beat and if Yukhei were to casually do that he would lose all composure embarrassingly fast.

“That’s fine I guess,” Mark mutters, searching for ways to change the subject. “And I like lucky charms,” He points out, hoping Yukhei avoids all other questions after that.

“That’s cool,” Yukhei agrees, “mine are honeycombs.” 

🎄

As expected, Mark’s mother is more excited to meet Yukhei than she is to see her son. She is waiting on the platform, waving excitedly when she sees Mark and Yukhei exit the train. 

“It’s so good to finally meet you, Yukhei,” his mother praises happily as she hugs Mark’s pretend boyfriend. The nervousness that had been brewing in the pit of his tummy seems to disappear, because his mother has no reason to doubt his relationship - she’s way too happy about it. “Mark! I can’t believe you waited this long to introduce such a fine man to us.”

“Mom,” Mark whines, sighing to himself as he shakes his head. “Please don’t scare him off,” he says sympathetically but Yukhei smiles and basks in the attention. 

“It’s so good to finally meet you too, Miss Lee,” he says, and Mark watches the rest of the encounter in awe. 

Yukhei must be the epitome of son in law material, knowing exactly what to say as he thanks his mother for taking the effort to pick them up from the train station on such a cold winter’s day. Mark feels a little jealous of all the attention his mother is getting, which is absolutely _ridiculous_.

“Let’s get going, it’s cold outside,” his mother eventually concludes and Mark reaches down to pick up his heavy bag. Yukhei beats him to it, slinging the bag over his shoulder effortlessly. Mark wants to object because he’s very capable of carrying his own luggage, but realises this is a _couple_ thing to do and that making a scene out of it would not benefit either of them, so he lets it go.

“I’ve got it,” he tells Mark, wrapping his arm around Mark’s shoulders and it’s an _excellent_ authentic show. 

Mark almost believes it himself. 

During the drive home, Mark realises that Yukhei really _has_ taken things seriously. He might be a professional at this after all, because he knows all about Mark’s family (how is his brother doing in school, how’s his nephew) and knows just the right questions to get his mother talking. 

Because she loves talking, especially about herself and her family and Yukhei just somehow knows that, or he is just very good at reading people. Mark senses that the latter might be correct when Yukhei grabs Mark’s hand the moment his fingers start to nervously fiddle with his sleeve.

He knows it’s part of the show, it’s what couples do - they hold hands as a means of affection. Normally Mark wouldn’t be phased by that, he sees people holding hands all the time. Instead Mark’s brain takes it as a good opportunity to establish how large Yukhei’s hands are compared to his own yet again. His fingers are big enough to envelop his hand whole. It shouldn’t make him blush yet here he is, cheeks tainting a faint shade of red as he bows his head down to try and hide it.

When they eventually do arrive at Mark’s home, Yukhei again insists on carrying Mark’s bag. At this point Mark decides he might as well come to terms with that this week is going to be more difficult than he initially thought, not because it would be difficult to convey a real relationship to his family - but because Yukhei is so damn good at it. He thinks it must be because Yukhei has been in a lot of relationships. He’s handsome and outgoing, of course he doesn’t sit around alone - there must be plenty of people willing to date him. 

Mark however, doesn’t have that kind of fortune - people aren’t exactly standing in line to date him so the sudden attention is kind of _new_ and unfortunately a little bit too exciting at times.

“You can stay in your room Mark, I made the bed this morning and put out towels for the both of you.” 

Mark really had not prepared for this at all. He’d fooled himself into thinking the difficult part was convincing his parents he had a boyfriend, but that didn’t even begin to cover his real struggle. Now he had to act out a romantic relationship with this boyfriend for days. 

Of course his mother would assume they share a bed, it’s what couples do. Mark thanks his mother before showing Yukhei upstairs, trying not to think too much about the impending doom that comes with sharing his childhood bed with Yukhei.

Mark’s childhood bedroom isn’t much different from when he’d left it to go to university a couple of years ago. There’s posters of basketball players on the walls, a couple of CDs stacked on his desk and more books than the shelves can carry. 

“Oh, you play?” Is the first thing Yukhei asks when Mark shows him into his room.

“I used to, I’m not very good,” Mark admits sheepishly, “and I’m sorry about my mother, she’s a little overbearing.”

“Are you kidding?” Yukhei asks. “I think she’s lovely, she seems to like me.” 

Coming from anyone else, that would sound arrogant, yet Mark can’t do anything but agree with the elder that yes, his mother is very much over the moon about him - there’s absolutely no reason _not_ to love Yukhei.

“Yes, she really does,” Mark agrees. “Look, about the whole sleeping situation, you can just take my bed and I’ll sleep on the floor or something-“

“No way, we can just share,” Yukhei says, putting down their bags on Mark’s desk. 

Mark looks at his questionable single bed and then back at Yukhei who seems too tall to fit any bed at all. He’s not good at math but he can do the equation just fine. This tiny bed and Yukhei’s too long bed are not going to work out. 

His palms do not get sweaty thinking about Yukhei’s legs, at all. 

“I guess,” Mark says defeatedly - there is no point arguing with Yukhei about this, he’ll probably end up sleeping on the floor anyways. “The rest of the family won’t be home until later tonight, so do you wanna just watch something on Netflix until then?” 

They decide on doing just that, sitting down on Mark’s bed which already seems too small for comfort, settling for an easy going comedy show that neither of them have seen before. The stress from packing last night and this morning finally seem to catch up with Mark, because before he knows it his eyelids feel heavy and they’re falling shut, sleep taking over. 

When he comes to, it’s to Yukhei gently shaking his shoulder. He realises that his head is resting on Yukhei’s shoulder and the credits are already rolling.

“Oh shit,” he mumbles, sitting upright and rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“You’re fine, don’t worry,” Yukhei says, laughing comfortably. “I just woke you up because I think I heard someone coming home.”

“Yes of course, let me just go freshen up,” Mark says, getting up, completely detaching himself from the warmth of his bed and Yukhei (who would have known that he was practically a personal heater _and_ a pretend boyfriend in one).

Much like all social interactions, Yukhei excels at meeting his dad as well. 

He is a bit more nervous, trying to be more courteous and giving his dad an official handshake, but moments later they’re sat by the kitchen table talking about the business degree Yukhei is in the process of getting. Dropping economics the moment he got a chance too, Mark can’t follow a word of where the conversation is going but does keep his eyes on his father and Yukhei, who occasionally looks back at Mark for some kind of approval. He figures since he can’t give his father a son that studies accounting in university, the next best thing he can do is find him a pretend son in law that does.

His mother watches from the corner of her eye with a pleasant smile on her face as she goes around the kitchen preparing dinner. It’s only then that Mark realises his parents were probably _worried_ that Mark was truly undateable and they didn’t want this for them, they just wanted Mark to find someone to be happy with.

Mark's younger brother comes home not much later, just in time for dinner and Yukhei seems to get along with him just fine - then again, they are not far apart age wise and if Yukhei is this good with his parents, Minhee isn’t much of a challenge. The two talk easily (about school and girls that Minhee might or might not be dating) and anything Yukhei does or says just feels so confident that you wouldn’t question it, including the little anecdotes about Mark that he drops.

Dinner is surprisingly easy, Minhee talking about how terrible school is right now and his mother telling him not to be so dramatic. His dad asks about Yukheis parents and what they do (very predictably they also work in finance) and Mark feels a little bad because Yukhei isn’t obliged to share this kind of personal information yet eagerly does so.

After dinner Minhee asks Yukhei if he wants to play FIFA and they end up playing a couple games. Yukhei seems to fit right into his family, which is great - except Mark finds something else to worry about. 

After this week is over, he is going to have to tell his parents that he broke up with Yukhei. He’s going to have to find something wrong about Yukhei, bad enough to warrant breaking up with him - and that seems impossible with how well Yukhei handles meeting his family. 

But he’ll overthink that issue when he needs to. 

When they’re getting ready for bed, Mark sits on his bed waiting for Yukhei to brush his teeth, checking his phone and the unread messages. 

**How’s it going with ur fake bf**

Ten asks very gracefully in a private message, probably just then noticing that Mark is online. 

**He’s fine. My parents love him.**

**What about you, are you two getting along?**

**We’re fine.** Mark responds, then puts his phone down when Yukhei exits the bathroom.

Mark really has a penchant for eating his own words, or so it seems. 

Telling Ten that him and Yukhei were fine has got to be the biggest lie he has ever told, because nothing is fine about Yukhei right now. He’s changed into a pair of sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt, showing just a bit too much of his nicely toned arms. Mark’s mouth runs dry. 

Normally guys in sweatpants and t-shirts don’t really do anything for him but this is Yukhei in sweatpants and slightly damp hair and it’s driving him crazy, even just watching him do something simple like rummaging through his suitcase has Mark doing a double take, heart skipping stupidly.

Yes, Yukhei is good looking (how many times does he have to admit this to himself?) but this casual Yukhei is something else. It’s so different from the bold kind of handsome vibe Yukhei normally has, that Mark has to stop himself from staring. Admittedly this is the kind of thing Mark is usually attracted to, not loud and outrageous but soft and warm, and finding out that Yukhei has this side to him is…. _new_.

That makes it feel even stranger to have Yukhei here, in his childhood bedroom - in his bed, almost uncomfortable to have someone suddenly so attractive so nearby. Mark has never been in this situation before in his 21 year long life and he has no idea how to handle it, other than grasping for his phone and texting his best friend.

**I’m having a crisis Yukhei is really hot**

**you realise this now, idiot?**

**He’s wearing sweatpants and it’s so basic**

****

**But he looks so fucking good**

****

**Donghyuck what do I do**

****

**my bed is so small I can’t do this**

****

**Help**

**Lmao thats cute, go get him**

**_????_ **Mark responds urgently, deciding that Donghyuck indeed is the worst friend ever but then Yukhei gets into bed next to him, reaching over to switch the light off and any coherent thoughts he had vanish.

“Goodnight,” Yukhei says, and Mark has to swallow to clear his paper dry throat and force out words.

“Goodnight,” he stutters out, putting his phone down under his pillow, turning to lie on his side so his back is facing Yukhei. It’s uncomfortable but it seems to be the safer option. 

Leave it up to Mark to have a crisis about how attracted he is to someone moments before he has to platonically share a bed with them.

Yukhei seems to have no problems falling asleep at all. Mark is well aware of how close the elder is (lying in bed right next to him) and makes sure to not let their arms touch because that would be _too much_. 

He does not even need to touch Yukhei to feel how warm he is, how the bed suddenly feels a hundred degrees hotter because he’s in it. Yukhei’s breathing is steady and audible and Mark can’t help but listen to it, another reminder that he is in fact sharing his very small childhood bed with Yukhei and that Yukhei seems to have absolutely no problem with that.

He writes it off on Yukhei’s experience with relationships. He’s probably had a lot of partners, a lot of parents to meet and maybe spent a lot of time in other people’s childhood bedrooms. That must be it. How else would Yukhei be able to do this so casually, whilst Mark feels like he might explode from just sharing a bed with him? 

It takes a long time for Mark to fall into a restless sleep.

🎄

The next day, Mark’s mother asks them if they can drive up to the store and get some last minute items for Christmas dinner. They head out just prior to lunch, drive around Mark’s very small and very boring hometown. There’s not much to see, except all the stories Mark tells about his old school, where he first met Donghyuck and other small anecdotes. It’s genuinely pleasant and Mark starts to wonder why he and Yukhei aren’t better friends because they actually get along well, even outside pretending to be in a relationship.

On Christmas eve Mark’s family has the tradition of watching bad Christmas movies in the evening and this year he’s going to have to do that _with_ Yukhei.

Which is fine, they’ve pretended to be a couple for almost two days, so Mark should know how to do that by now – yet sitting down so close next to Yukhei feels weird, like he's not sure he's doing it right.

It turns out he is, because Yukhei soon puts an arm around his shoulder and Mark _casually_ leans into his side. It’s not exactly comfortable, since Mark is hyper aware of how close Yukhei is, but it must look believable to his parents and that is what they’re here for.

About 40 minutes into _The Knight Before Christmas_ , Yukhei moves over to lean back and Mark can’t help but fall back against his chest. He’s a little shocked by the new position but Yukhei doesn’t mind and suddenly runs his hand over Mark’s arm. It’s hesitant at first but then his hand moves down to squeeze his arm softly.

And yeah, this is fine – Mark can totally do this. Mark’s really got this boyfriend thing totally under control, he’s actually getting pretty good at it. Of course, Yukhei doesn’t let him live that fantasy as he feels Yukhei’s hand leave his shoulder and instead reach up to run through his hair.

It’s a secret no one knows (save for Donghyuck and Ten) that Mark’s scalp is extremely sensitive, so whatever Yukhei is doing as he absentmindedly runs his fingers through Mark’s hair is wonderful. Before he knows it, he’s leaning his head back against Yukheis hand, closing his eyes blissfully. He’s moments away from practically _purring_ when he realises what he’s doing and tenses up, straightening up to shy away from the touch. 

If Yukhei notices, then he pretends not to and smoothly moves his hand back to Mark’s shoulder. Although Yukhei’s hand is gone from his hair, the touch still lingers and Mark thinks about it for the majority of the movie.

When they’re in bed that night, light still on as they’re watching something on Mark's tablet, Yukhei brings it up casually.

“Was that okay?” He asks as the ending credits play and Mark reaches over to fold it shut, getting up to put it away on his desk.

“Was what okay?” Mark asks, just to be sure – even though he has an idea of where this conversation is going.

“Back there, the touching – you seemed kind of nervous.” 

Mark swallows thickly, glad his back is facing Yukhei so the elder doesn’t see the blush creeping onto his cheeks.

“Oh I was just surprised,” Mark says before he can think it over, sitting back down on his bed. He looks down at his phone, but he has no notifications and he feels like he _needs_ to explain why Yukhei’s hand on his shoulder had him reacting the way he did. 

“It’s fine, it’s what couples do, right?” He says quickly, a nervous chuckle following before he adds “I wouldn’t know.”

Well, way for keeping that piece of information to himself.

“You mean you’ve never been in a relationship before?” When Yukhei puts it like that it makes Mark feel worse about it.

“I haven’t,” Mark admits shyly, putting his phone down on his nightstand before curling up in bed. He’s careful not to make any contact with Yukhei, who is leaning back against the pillows, phone on his chest. “Why do you think my parents were so pushy? They just don’t want their son to be completely undateable.”

“You know that’s not true.” Yukhei says, but he can’t help but laugh. “You’re very dateable, don’t put yourself down like that.”

Yukhei is so unnecessarily kind, Mark is not sure what to do with it other than blush and turn off the lights to make sure Yukhei doesn’t catch any of it.

🎄

Take back everything he said about Yukhei looking fine in sweats, because Yukhei in a nice button up shirt with his hair styled back is absolutely _lethal_. It’s late in the afternoon and most of Mark’s family will be arriving for the grand Christmas dinner very soon. Usually Mark doesn’t bother doing more than wearing a nice button up (that embarrassingly enough, his mother usually chooses for him) but seeing Yukhei in that well fitted white button-up makes him want to make an effort too.

It just feels so pointless when Yukhei manages to look this good, absolutely effortless and Mark spends ten minutes styling his hair before giving up altogether. Instead he makes do with simple black jeans and a matching white button-up shirt. 

Yukhei notices as much.

“We’re matching,” he says happily, looking at Mark in awe as he leaves the bathroom. “That’s like a perfect couple thing to do, your mum’s going to love this.”

His mum does end up loving it, complimenting them plentifully whilst trying to hide her excitement of finally getting to introduce her son and his _boyfriend_ to all of Mark’s nosy aunts that love to pry in on his love-life. Mark’s just happily hoping they’ll (for once) leave him alone about setting him up on potential dates.

Much like expected, Yukhei manages to charm his aunts when they come in one by one as dinner is nearing. Naturally they compliment how tall and handsome he is (if Mark hadn’t known any better, he would think there wasn’t much more to Yukhei than that) but then he’s actually talking about his degree and his hobbies and they’re really swooning.

“Ah, a degree in accounting, smart _and_ handsome,” his aunt comments, and Mark wants to roll his eyes but keeps it down.

“Actually, Mark’s the smart one, he majors in computer science. I’m just about business,” Yukhei assures, casually putting his arm around Mark’s shoulder, who tries not to blush at the compliment.

“Yes Mark, your mother tells us all about how well you’re doing in school – but she hadn’t told us about your boyfriend. Is this a new thing?” His aunt pries and Mark nervously fidgets with his nails.

“We’ve been together a couple months, almost half a year,” Yukhei explains.

“How did you two meet?” Aunt number two pipes up, clearly just as interested in Mark’s blooming relationship.

“Well uh-” Yukhei starts, but Mark feels he should probably carry half of this conversation if he wants it to be a little bit believable.

“We met in the library,” Mark interrupts. “I was trying to study and Yukhei was with some of his friends, they were being really loud, so I asked them to be quiet,” Mark explains, because it’s the best thing he can come up with right now. 

Saying anything more romantic will probably have him flushing red _and_ his toes curling with the sheer amount of embarrassment, as if this isn’t bad enough.

“I came over to leave a note to apologise and left my number on the note,” Yukhei fills in, having his aunts cooing and blushing over how cute that is. It’s exactly how Yukhei would probably approach someone and Mark can’t help but find it both adorable and a little sexy. 

Confidence looks very sexy on Yukhei and Mark hates himself for thinking that.

Dinner goes by smoothly. Mark sits in the shadow of Yukhei which suits him just fine, adding small bits to the conversation whenever he feels like it but spending most time listening to Yukhei’s pleasant voice.

Later in the evening they sit in the living room by the Christmas tree opening presents and then it hits Mark that he and Yukhei didn’t get each other any presents. He makes a mental note to tell his parents that they _did_ get each other presents (his mum will ask what he got anyways) but that it was more convenient to exchange gifts back at home instead of bringing them all the way here.

“So what did Yukhei get you for Christmas?” His mother does in fact end up asking. Yukhei is caught up in conversation with his brother and uncle, but overhears his name and instead turns to Mark’s mother.

“There was this cologne he really wanted,” Yukhei tells excitedly, like he’s not pulling this story out of his ass. He looks convinced by what he’s saying, so much that Mark almost believes it.

“Oh how lovely, and Mark dear, what did you get him?” His mum asks next, and Mark was afraid this question would come up, and in hindsight, should have prepared a believable response.

“Uh,” Mark says, as his brain starts to look for potential answers. 

He quickly thinks about what he would get Yukhei if Yukhei was his actual boyfriend, but finds that he doesn’t actually know Yukhei well enough to know what he would want, or what he would get him. Saying something ridiculously cheesy might actually be suspicious (because Mark’s mother knows he’s not that romantic), so that’s not an option – which leaves him with _no_ option which isn’t a very good answer either, as his mother and Yukhei look at him expectantly.

“He got me a-” Yukhei starts, always ready to save Mark’s ass and cover up for them but Mark decides right then is a good time to blurt out the next best thing his mind can come up with.

“It’s a private gift,” Mark says determinedly, rather loud – at least loud enough for both his mother and Yukhei to hear it clearly. He gets the words out with necessary stammering and a red hot blush on his cheeks, regretting all of it right away.

“A private gift?” His mother asks curiously, because she (unlike Mark and Yukhei) does not yet realise exactly the implication of that. 

Yukhei's blushing all the way up to his ears as he glares at Mark, mouthing something like 'what the fuck', and Mark's too mortified by the implications of what he just said to look him in the eyes. 

It takes his mother a moment before she does realise, and looks at Mark aghast, mouth open and eyes wide. She looks like she wants to say something, but instead she grabs her wine glass and takes a large gulp.

Mark wishes the floor would swallow him whole.

🎄

“Really?” Yukhei asks when it’s just the two of them later that night.

They had almost survived Christmas, if it hadn’t been for Mark’s casual slip-up that he’d gotten his significant other something sexual for as a Christmas present.

“ _A private gift_ ,” Yukhei mocks him, laughing as he sits down on Mark’s bed. Mark remains standing by his desk where his phone is charging, looking away in shame. His cheeks are still red from embarrassment and with the way Yukhei is laughing he figures that is not going to change anytime soon.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Mark pipes up with a tiny voice, still unable to look Yukhei into the eyes. Mark would find it funny if he weren’t the one embarrassed out of his mind.

“Yeah, you’re not a very good liar,” Yukhei points out and Mark’s not sure if it’s a compliment or not. “Thank god you asked me for this, at least I can be convincing when I need to.”

The laughter dies down and Mark heads into the ensuite bathroom to brush his teeth. It’s not that late, but he’s well tired from all the social interaction, the plentiful introductions with Yukhei as his _boyfriend_ – having a (fake) boyfriend is turning out to be very time consuming.

Yukhei wanders into the bathroom to grab his toothbrush, standing next to Mark by the sink. Soon they’re standing shoulder to shoulder (more like ear to shoulder with how much taller Yukhei is), both brushing their teeth, making eye contact in the mirror that has Mark laughing again with a mouthful of toothpaste.

“ _Pwivut gipt,”_ Yukhei mumbles over his toothbrush and Mark can’t help but snort, accidentally inhaling a whole gulp of toothpaste that has him coughing, doubling over to spit out in the sink.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Mark says eventually when they’re both sitting down together on Mark’s bed, laughter finally resolved. “I won’t say stuff like that again.”

“It's fine - you're the one that's going to hear about this for the rest of your life.”

🎄

When Mark wakes up the next morning, two things are off. 

First, he’s slept surprisingly well – much better than he’d anticipated after last night’s events. Second, it’s that Yukhei isn’t there. The bed is empty next to him, and he’s snuggled up in the middle of it, blankets curled around him.

He realises next what woke him up, the soft talking that he hears from the other side of the room. When he looks up he sees Yukhei sitting by his desk with his phone in hand, facetiming a woman that looks suspiciously much like Yukhei – most likely his mother. They’re talking softly in Cantonese and Mark figures that because of the time zone differences Yukhei must struggle to find time to talk to his mother, seven a.m. would do it.

Mark’s awake now, so he might as well stay up. He listens in on Yukhei talking even if he can’t understand a word. It’s soothing, Yukhei’s deep voice in a soft tone and Mark almost finds himself falling back asleep. That is until Yukhei suddenly goes silent and Mark realises that he must’ve hung up.

Mark leans up to get a better look, murmuring a croaky “good morning.”

“Hi,” Yukhei says, a small smile on his face as he looks down at his phone. “I’m sorry, did I wake you? I was talking to my mother, it’s not easy with the timezones.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Mark assures, reaching up to run a hand through his messy hair. 

“I’m starving,” he concludes, his tummy rumbling loudly as if to confirm that. “Do you wanna get breakfast?”

Moments later they’re in the kitchen. Mark is not good at cooking, so Yukhei offers to make pancakes, which is apparently also a thing that Yukhei is good at. As he sits on the counter watching Yukhei go around the kitchen (and helps him find his way) he realises that there must be a catch at some point, because Yukhei cannot be this good looking, funny _and_ good at cooking.

Turns out he is, because Yukhei serves a perfect American pancake breakfast and Mark offers that he’ll do his part and grab the maple syrup. He finds it in the cupboard pretty quickly but falls disappointed when he realises it’s on the very top shelf, where he likely will not be able to reach.

He tries to discreetly lean up on his tiptoes to see if maybe those few centimetres make a difference but they really don’t – which leaves him with two options, either drag a chair over to try and reach it, or ask Yukhei to grab it for him. The latter would be way easier but also kind of embarrassing, because Mark isn’t even that short – it’s just that Yukhei is abnormally tall.

“You need help?” Yukhei speaks up and Mark looks over his shoulder to see Yukhei staring at him, clearly amused by the situation if the lazy smirk is anything to go by. “Come on, I got it.”

Mark huffs to himself, looking down at the counter before taking a step back, allowing Yukhei to step closer and reach the top shelf for him, only Yukhei stands behind him and simply leans over to grab it. Mark can feel the elder’s chest pressing into his back and it sends a shiver down his spine. The close proximity and the heat of Yukhei’s body have his toes curling in his slippers. 

Yukhei seems to feel absolutely nothing, grabbing the maple syrup and setting it down on the counter in front of Mark before quickly returning to the stove to finish the pancakes.

They sit by the kitchen island eating their pancakes, making small talk about going home soon, about their supposed new year’s plans.

“You’ve got syrup uh-” Yukhei starts suddenly, reaching out towards Mark’s face. Mark’s eyes widen, watching Yukhei’s as they look at his lips. Yukhei’s thumb comes to swipe a droplet of pancake syrup from the corner of Mark’s mouth, which hangs open in surprise and _stupidity_.

“Oh,” Mark mumbles in awe, looking down at his plate. 

He’s suddenly aware of how their knees are almost touching under the table, pulling on the sleeves of his sweater self-consciously. His heart jumps a little when he feels Yukhei’s hand come up to brush a strand of hair out of his face and he looks up hastily. Their eyes meet, both wide and eager as Mark’s heart nearly beats out of his chest. He’s so close he can practically count Yukhei’s eyelashes and it’s unhealthy what his heart is doing in his chest but he kind of really wants to-

“Good morning you two,” Mark nearly falls off his chair as he scoots back, whipping his head around to see his mother standing in the doorway.

“Good morning,” he replies stiffly, swallowing thickly as he forces a smile at his mother.

🎄

When Mark had asked Yukhei to be his pretend boyfriend to bring home, he’d been nervous because the elder might say no, or because things might go wrong – he hadn’t foreseen the fact that pretending to be Yukhei’s boyfriend would make him want to actually be Yukhei’s boyfriend.

He should have seen the signs. Yukhei was exactly the kind of guy Mark would date (in some strange parallel universe in which guys like Yukhei were interested in dating guys like Mark), but then he got to know Yukhei and it all got much worse. Like expected, Yukhei was bright and bubbly and never failed to make one laugh. He had an intricate kindness to him that Mark loved seeing in people but also frightened him to approach someone – scared he might mess it up. Yukhei was too good for that.

He was way too good to be someone’s pretend boyfriend. In fact, he was so good at it he had successfully gone and stolen Mark’s heart as well, probably without even trying. Mark wondered why someone like Yukhei even did these things, like meeting the parents was his hobby, something he liked to do for fun. Mark wasn’t even paying him, he was just doing Mark a huge favour and they didn’t even know each other that well.

Whining to himself, Mark reaches for his phone. 

**Hyuck**

**im going thru a crisis**

**i don’t think I can do this with Yukhei anymore**

**I think I like him**

**oh shit**

**What do I do??**

 **im freaking out**

**Idk man, ur going home tomorrow right?**

**Yes**

**why**

**I have to spend another 24 hours with him**

**Well you can tell him tomorrow**

**Why would I do that**

**Why do you think idiot**

**u wanna date him**

**what if**

**he wants to date u too**

**haha jk… unless**

**Ur not funny**

**Thats right im hilarious**

**and now Johnny owes me twenty dollar bc he was betting on new years**

**????**

**Mayhaps johnny and ten and I placed bets on when u would fall for Yukhei**

**Why would you do that**

**Don’t tell me u didn’t see this coming**

**Yukhei is so ur type**

**were surprised u didn’t find out sooner**

**but I know ur a late bloomer**

**Im blockin u**

Mark looks at his phone in defeat. In other words, he is fucked – and it’s going to be a very long night.

Mark puts his phone down on his chest and sighs to himself. He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to think of anything but how utterly fucked he is going to be knowing he's apparently got a massive crush on Yukhei and has to spend the night sleeping next to him. In a very tiny bed that’s only built to fit one person. With Yukhei.

It fucking hurts just thinking about it, and Mark curls up on his side with a groan. The bathroom door opens moments later. Yukhei comes out with a towel slung around his hips and nothing else, which makes sense seeing he just came out of the shower – except that he’s in Mark’s bedroom and droplets are falling onto the carpet floor and Mark’s positive he might go into cardiac arrest.

Screw everything he said about Yukhei looking good in casual sweatpants, or in a nice dress shirt or with his hair styled back – this Yukhei takes the cake, with his wet hair stuck to his forehead and the absolute masterpiece that is his chest. Mark can’t _not_ look and Yukhei looks just as apologetic.

“Sorry,” he says, hurrying over to his suitcase. As he leans over it the slit in the towel hitches up and Mark can see more of his toned thighs, except that he’s _not_ actually looking so he can’t see that. “Forgot my stuff.”

Mark has to physically pull himself away from staring at that and closes his eyes, knuckles going white where he clutches his phone. He waits for a moment, trying to hear if Yukhei has returned to the bathroom before he deems the coast clear and opens his eyes.

Yukhei has gone back into the bathroom but Mark’s heart is beating so fast as he does everything in his power not to think about what just happened – it’s just going to make things worse.

They’re leaving tomorrow, which means it’s just a couple more hours and one train ride that he can probably spend napping if he makes an excuse about that. Just a couple more hours and if he’s lucky he can even spend some of them sleeping. He can do this.

When Yukhei exits the bathroom he’s dressed in his sleeping clothes and it’s still awful because now that Mark knows what he looks like without those, his brain won’t let him see anything else. He awkwardly sits up and shuffles over in bed to make sure there’s room for Yukhei as well.

“Are you looking forward to going back tomorrow?” Yukhei asks as he sits down on the bed next to Mark, plugging in his phone charger on the nightstand.

“Kind of,” Mark agrees with a small hum. “I’m looking forward to New Year’s, not so much the rest of the semester,” they’d talked about their New Year’s plans and had established that they were attending the same New Year’s party, but had been invited by completely different people (it was a huge campus dorm party so the odds were in their favour).

“Yeah, I get that,” Yukhei agrees. “I’m looking forward to New Year’s but I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you. Your family is so kind.”

“Ah..” Mark says, folding his hands in his lap. “Thank you again for doing this, I know I’ve said it before but I really mean it, if it wasn’t for you I’d probably be on some horrendous _date_ right now.”

Yukhei laughs, soft but still all bright and toothy. “I think it’s sweet, your parents just want you to be happy.”

“I guess,” Mark says, shrugging. “It’s a little bit overbearing. I’m guessing your parents aren’t like this?”

“No, they’re not,” he agrees. “They’re more concerned with my sister and who she dates. I’m the youngest, so for now I’m the least of their worries.”

“You’re going home for New Year’s, right? In February?” Yukhei nods. “Well if you ever need another pretend boyfriend, I guess I owe you one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Yukhei says with a yawn and Mark realises that it’s probably late, and that people who didn’t just go through a crisis probably want to go to sleep at this point. “We have to get up early, right?”

Right. Tomorrow, they have to catch the train back.

“Yeah, let’s go to bed,” Mark says, reaching to turn off the light on his nightstand. He curls up on his side, back facing Yukhei much like the previous nights, and maybe it’s not _that_ bad. If he doesn’t try to think about his recent revelation, he can probably just fall asleep and ignore the warmth radiating off the body behind him.

🎄

Mark feels a little bad when they bid goodbye to his family on the train station that next morning. His mother _insists_ that Yukhei should visit again soon, and Mark knows that is never going to happen.

Perhaps he should’ve selected a candidate as a pretend boyfriend that wasn’t so likeable – but he figures at least his mother was fully convinced by the act they put on. He already fears the conversation in which he is going to have to tell his mother that he’d ended things with Yukhei but that’s a problem for later. For now, they’re still (pretend) dating as far as his mother knows.

They even hold hands as they walk along the platform waiting for the train, in case his parents are watching them walk away. Yukhei turns around to wave at his mother but Mark keeps walking as he nervously stares ahead.

Only two more hours and then it's over, they don’t have to do this anymore.

Donghyuck’s words are nagging at the back of his mind, _just tell him_ , and whilst that is a very Donghyuck way to solve things (direct, honest, brutal), it’s not how Mark usually goes about solving his problems (procrastinating, overthinking) - and when has Donghyuck ever solved a problem?

He doesn’t have much to lose, but he’s not sure how he’s going to tell Yukhei. _Hi so thanks for doing this thing for me, would you like to forget it ever happened and actually date me_? That’s not how things go, and Mark _knows_ that but he’s so stupidly nervous just thinking about Yukhei that it’s the only option he sees for now.

Of course he doesn’t actually have the guts to say anything. They get off the train two hours later and Mark has done nothing but painfully overthink all the time they’ve spent together the past week, only to feel equally as lost after two hours of overthinking.

Johnny is waiting at the train station with Ten to pick them up (Donghyuck had offered to drive but Mark would like to make it into the new year in one piece) and Johnny even helps carry his bag. Mark thinks about how a couple days ago Yukhei had done the same for him.

Except that it’s not like that anymore, because they’re no longer pretending to be a couple. They get in the back of the car and Ten makes small talk about the punch he’s making for tomorrow night and Yukhei comes with suggestions on ingredients to add. By the time they arrive at the dorms the flavour of rice wine has been thoroughly discussed and Mark feels like a deflated pool animal as he gets out of the car and gets his suitcase from the trunk. 

Yukhei does the same, still caught up in conversation with Ten, and Mark is awkwardly silent because there’s _something_ he wants to say except he has no idea what that something is and thinking realistically – there is not a chance he will actually say any of those words, which is terribly frustrating.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Yukhei says. Mark returns the greeting with a wave before thanking Johnny and Ten for picking them up, and then he turns around and walks away. It feels more definite than it should, because really there was nothing to walk away from.

Even if everything had been fake it feels dreadful that it’s no longer there. Whatever Mark had wanted to be there (as he had haphazardly come to realise last night) is obviously _not_ , so all he’s got to do now is walk away.

And _yet_.

Mark pauses and looks over his shoulder, _hoping_ , thinking that maybe – but all he sees is Johnny driving away and the door of Yukhei’s dorm just falling shut.

That’s it.

🎄

Unfortunately Donghyuck is home when he returns to their shared dorm. Quietly moping about his own existence was thus not an option, as the younger is sat in the middle of the sofa with the Switch controller in hand.

“Oh hi, you’re back,” Donghyuck says, eyes not leaving the screen. He reaches into the bag of potato crisps and stuffs another one into his mouth.

Mark mumbles something that neither of them understand as he kicks off his shoes, slumping onto his bed and curling up. He hasn’t closed the door behind him and soon the game sounds from the living room freeze and he hears soft footsteps padding to the doorway.

“Hi,” Donghyuck greets. He’s in his pyjamas and Mark thinks that’s a great idea, which he’ll get to right after he’s spent a designated amount of time curled up, moping. “How was it?”

“Great,” Mark says, because it really was _great_. 

Dating someone like Yukhei and taking them more for Christmas would have been amazing. Doing the whole thing play-pretend style was the best Mark was going to get, so it’d been great.

“Really?” Donghuck says, shoving Mark’s legs over to fit himself on his bed. “Did you ask him out?”

 _God no_. It’s not that simple, but this is Donghyuck.

“I didn’t really get the chance to,” Mark says instead, which seems right – he only had two hours on the train to overthink and hadn’t really reached a solution or conclusion after two hours.

“You just spent one week with him, don’t lie,” Donghyuck points out. Mark sticks out his tongue at his best friend and then buries his face into his pillow. “So what did he say then?”

“He didn’t say anything,” Mark says, first unintelligibly into his pillow and then again when he sits up. “I didn't say anything, he isn’t interested anyways.”

“How would you know that if you didn’t tell him?” Donghyuck proposes and _god_ Mark wants to hit him.

“Because Yukhei is Yukhei, and I’m the kind of guy that has to ask guys like Yukhei to pretend to be my boyfriend,” Mark explains.

Donghyuck chews on his bottom lip and looks away. He wants to say something, Mark can tell that much from the nervous shuffling of his feet.

“Well you’re Mark, and you don’t _have_ to ask people to pretend to date you. I’m sure there are people that want to date you, _for real_.”

“Yeah and those people are not Yukhei. You see my problem?” Mark poses, thinking he might’ve finally cut the problem down to Donghyuck-sized bites.

“Sure,” Donghyuck says, but he doesn’t seem convinced at all. “Do you want me to order take-out?”

🎄

It’s New Years and Mark is this close to telling Donghyuck that he can’t come to any party tonight because he’s already busy _moping_ , but then Donghyuck invites over some of his friends for a pre drinking fest at their place and there’s loud music and people everywhere and he somehow ends up in the living room with a beer in hand.

“So, how was Yukhei?” Ten asks him, sitting down next to him. He has something that looks like a glass of champagne in his hands. 

“Yukhei is fine,” Mark answers, and he’s already tired of this conversation, hoping Ten picks up on that too by the sigh he lets out.

“He sure is,” Ten says with a smirk, waggling his eyebrows, and Mark groans.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he says dismissively, but apparently Ten _does_ want to talk about it and when has Ten ever not gotten his way?

“Donghyuck told me you had a bit of an awakening after a couple of days.”

“Does Donghyuck ever shut up?” Mark whines, putting his head in his hands. “God, I’m never telling him anything again.”

“We all try not to,” Ten assures, patting Mark’s arm. “Did something happen between you and Yukhei?”

Mark snorts and looks up. “No?” He says, raising his eyebrows. “Why, did he tell you that something happened between us?”

“No,” Ten says, shaking his head. “No, I haven’t talked to him much, he just seemed very down when he came home last night.”

Well, he just spent a week with Mark and his family. Anyone would feel down after that.

“Nothing happened, we just said goodbye and then I went home,” Mark assures. Ten looks like he doesn’t buy that at all as he takes a sip of champagne.

“Yukhei’s coming tonight, maybe you two can talk?” Ten leaves after saying that, mingling with another group of people standing in the kitchen, going through Mark and Donghyuck’s snack cabinet.

 _Talk_. Mark rolls his eyes, shaking his head. He’s really hoping this party is big enough to avoid running into Yukhei all night.

🎄

It’s not even eleven and Donghyuck has already had one too many beverages. Mark realises this a little too late, as he has a very clingy Donghyuck standing next to him. Even if the younger is naturally affectionate, he’s using Mark as a walking armrest right now to make sure he doesn’t fall over as he walks.

Ten’s made sure to feed Donghyuck two glasses of water just now, so he’ll likely sober up before the New Year actually starts but right now Mark is stuck babysitting. It wouldn’t be that bad of a chore (drunk Donghyuck is even more talkative and shameless) but he’s also playing a very hectic game of _avoiding_ Yukhei.

So far he has been very successful. Yukhei is definitely here, arriving not much after Donghyuck and Mark. Mark could tell by Yukhei’s voice, which was a warning signal that he had to get out of sight because he was too sober for any kind of confrontation.

Hiding from Yukhei became much more difficult when he had a pet dog attached to him, so he tries to walk the two of them to an empty balcony. Donghyuck would do well with some fresh air.

They stand together, Donghyuck making small talk about a guy he just saw, but Mark isn’t really into the conversation at all. He hums occasionally to let the younger know he’s still listening but really he’s keeping his eyes focused on the glass doors to make sure he doesn’t see Yukhei walking past.

Ten comes by moments later, sliding the door open. “How is he?” Ten asks, gesturing down at Donghyuck.

“Fine,” Mark says, shoving the younger in Ten’s direction. As he does so he sees a painfully familiar face piping up in the doorway next to Ten.

“Oh, hi,” Yukhei says, a little out of breath and looking genuinely surprised to find Mark here. Obviously he knew they were attending the very same party, but perhaps Yukhei had not been playing an extreme game of avoiding Mark.

“Hi,” Mark says dumbly as he hands over a pile of Donghyuck to Ten, who mutters something back and walks away with Donghyuck. It’s just the two of them, and Yukhei takes the liberty of stepping out on the balcony, sliding the door shut behind them.

“So,” Yukhei starts, and here it comes, the awkward tension Mark had been trying to avoid all night. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Mark says before his stupid brain can come up with something cryptic to say. “What about you?”

“Yeah, fine,” Yukhei agrees, nodding to himself as if he’s rehearsing a plan in his head. Mark is looking at the door like he wants to leave (he does), but then Yukhei takes a step closer and Mark can’t see the door anymore. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Mark can smell the familiar cologne he’d grown so used to the past week and he nods his head shyly, eyes still not meeting Yukhei’s.

“Well, um,” Yukhei opens his mouth as if to try out the words but then seems to change his mind. Mark almost dares to look him in the eyes. “I don’t know how to say this, but, look, Mark,” and Mark actually _looks_ , and Yukhei looks scared. His eyes are blown wide but there’s a concerned frown on his face and oh _god_ , has something bad happened to him? Mark starts thinking up worst case scenarios. “It’s almost the new year, and I guess I wanted to tell you before that…”

“Tell me what?” Mark demands. Seeing that the roles are reversed and Yukhei is playing the nervous one gives him a surge of confidence that he did not know he had in him.

“Well I uh… when you asked me to play your boyfriend….” Yukhei starts and looks over Mark’s shoulder, because apparently the streetlamp is very interesting. “I kind of only said yes because I’m really into you.”

 _What_. 

Mark is glad the balcony has a fence or else he would’ve fallen right off in shock. He grips it tightly as he looks at Yukhei in confusion, who has finally mustered the courage to look back down at Mark’s face.

“You _what_?” Mark spits out, shaking his head.

“I really should have told you before, because it wasn’t fair to you-” Yukhei tries but trails off, swallowing nervously. “I mean, I wanted to tell you this week, but I just couldn’t say it, I was afraid you’d be upset with me and think I was using you or something-”

“Using _me_?” Mark actually laughs at that. “Yukhei, I was using _you_ , I asked you to help me and I-” and somewhere along the line I realised that I really like you _too_.

The thinking out loud has really got to stop in the new year, Mark decides as his cheeks catch red in absolute mortification at what he’s just said.

“You do?” Yukhei says in disbelief – Mark’s not so sure why, because if there’s anything unbelievable here it’s Yukhei being interested in him and being too afraid to tell him – that just doesn’t make sense. Yukhei is so bold, so confident, so obvious about what he wants. 

Except there’s also this soft and warm side to him that Mark had gotten to know the past few days, and maybe that side is bigger than Yukhei likes to show.

“We’re so stupid,” Mark declares. They’re both blushing and he feels something twist pleasantly inside his tummy, a mix of excitement and _something_ else. “Why didn’t you just tell me? You had all week.”

“I didn’t think you’d like me back, I didn’t want it to be awkward,” and well, Mark can’t say that he didn’t have the exact same reason so he falls silent.

When he looks back up Yukhei’s eyes are trained on him, and he’s slightly taken aback. “Can I kiss you?” Yukhei asks brazenly and Mark abandons all reservations and leans up to kiss him.

Unsurprisingly, Yukhei kisses just as eagerly as he does everything else. His lips are careful at first, just like his hands that travel down from Mark’s shoulders to his sides. Then he gets confident about it and laces his fingers through Mark’s belt loops to tug him closer and lick his way into the younger’s mouth, and it’s just as soft and careful like Mark knows Yukhei really is.

When they pull away, Mark is sure there’s nothing else he’d rather do than kiss Yukhei again so he does just that, this time taking the lead and putting his hands on Yukhei’s shoulders to raise himself up on his toes and chase the elder’s lips.

They gently exchange kisses until either of them start to giggle, causing the other to giggle and they’re reduced to a laughing mess instead, Mark resting his forehead against Yukhei’s shoulder, hands still gripping the leather jacket the elder is wearing.

It starts to get louder indoors, fireworks going off in the distance every now and then. Mark takes a step back, checking his phone to see that they’re just minutes before midnight.

When he looks back at Yukhei there’s a bright pink firework tainting the sky. Yukhei looks like a piece of art standing in front of it. Mark wishes he had all night to admire him but the seconds until midnight creep closer, an impatient reminder that he’s running out of time. 

Except now that they’ve come this far, Mark thinks he can allow himself all of next year to admire him - and he can already come up with a hundred ways in which he wants to do so.

For now he settles for taking the elder’s hands in his. It’s warm despite the cold and he comfortably laces their fingers together to savour in some of that heat. Yukhei offers him a bright smile, eyes lighting up with the remnants of a firework going off.

They don’t say a word, merely look into one another’s eyes as the rest of the party does the countdown for them. Mark’s heart is beating so hard inside his chest he’s worried it might jump out at any moment, biting his lip in anticipation as the countdown narrows down on zero.

“Fuck it,” Yukhei mumbles, leaning down to seize Mark’s lips in a searing kiss moments before they reach the second before twelve. Mark can’t help but laugh into the kiss as he wraps his arms around Yukhei’s neck, secretly just as impatient to taste him again. Fireworks go off behind them, but it’s nothing compared to the explosion going on in Mark’s chest right now.

“Happy new year, Mark,” Yukhei breathes once they break apart. Mark feels just like those nights in his childhood bedroom, nervous and restless all over, yet not with the promise of something more. He never wants to let Yukhei’s hands go, squeezing them softly for reassurance.

“Happy new year, Yukhei,” Mark says, before he kisses him again. 

**Author's Note:**

> i actually wrote this over the summer and only recently remembered it existed. it felt very appropriate to dust it off for the holiday season. 
> 
> come see me on twitter @ohsunwrites


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